AR-News: "The Junk Science of George W. Bush"

[marisul]

> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040308&s=kennedy&c=1
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> Article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 'The Nation'

excerpt:
.........I also recall the case of Dr. James Zahn, a nationally respected
microbiologist with the Agriculture Department's research service, who
accepted my invitation to speak to an April 2002 conference of more than
1,000 family farm advocates and environmental and civic leaders in Clear
Lake, Iowa. In a rigorous taxpayer-funded study, Zahn had identified
bacteria that can make people sick--and that are resistant to
antibiotics--in the air surrounding industrial-style hog farms. His studies
proved that billions of these "superbugs" were traveling across property
lines daily, endangering the health of neighbors and their herds. I was
shocked when Zahn canceled his appearance on the day of the conference under
orders from the Agriculture Department in Washington. I later uncovered a
fax trail proving the order was prompted by lobbyists from the National Pork
Producers Council. Zahn told me that his supervisor at the USDA, under
pressure from the hog industry, had ordered him not to publish his study and
that he had been forced to cancel more than a dozen public appearances at
local planning boards and county health commissions seeking information
about health impacts of industry mega-farms. Soon after my conference, Zahn
resigned from the government in disgust......
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